eng150fandomcom-20200215-history
J.D. Salinger
J.D. Salinger paints contemporary portraits through his few, but stunning, works of literature. He is most famous for his 1951 novel, The Catcher In the Rye. This novel follows the life of a young privileged American, Holden Caulfield, who refuses to conform to his society. Salinger articulates Caulfield’s sentiments regarding this sensitive 1950s issue through colloquial vocabulary and a personal narrator. Caulfield directly addresses the reader to create a conversational effect. For example, “You’d have liked Allie.” Salinger also characterizes Caulfield’s speech by including slang of the era and italicizing words which are normally emphasized in conversation. An example of this is “He was a very good skater and all, but I couldn’t enjoy it much because I kept picturing him practicing to be a guy that roller-skates on the stage.” In addition, Caulfield frequently calls people “phonies” and “corny” which shows Salinger’s ability to capture the vernacular of the time as well as the social issues. Salinger’s writing particularly struck readers because he addresses critical topics through relatable characters. Holden Caulfield’s openness allows the reader to experience true social criticism of the 1950s from a reliable narrator. Unlike a history book analyzing past occurrences, The Catcher In the Rye ''acts as a complex source of historical information. Salinger truly dove into the minds of his characters and shaped their personalities to set a tone for the book. For example, Caulfield’s frankness harshly contrasts 1950s niceties and permits a harsher social commentary. I personally enjoy Salinger’s works of literature because his writing style omits flowery additions to make room for development of characters, setting, tension, and theme. Furthermore, Salinger uses his characters to reveal information about the setting rather than describing 1950s American lifestyle and culture to the reader. His literature, rather than building as it goes, paints one cohesive picture which is completed only with completion of the novel. Excerpt from ''The Catcher In the Rye: At the end of the first act we went out with all the other jerks for a cigarette. What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were. Some dopey movie actor was standing near us, having a cigarette. I don't know his name, but he always plays the part of a guy in a war movie that gets yellow before it's time to go over the top. He was with some gorgeous blonde, and the two of them were trying to be very blasé and all, like as if he didn't even know people were looking at him. Modest as hell. I got a big bang out of it. Old Sally didn't talk much, except to rave about the Lunts, because she was busy rubbering and being charming. Then all of a sudden, she saw some jerk she knew on the other side of the lobby. Some guy in one of those very dark gray flannel suits and one of those checkered vests. Strictly Ivy League. Big deal. He was standing next to the wall, smoking himself to death and looking bored as hell. Old Sally kept saying, "I know that boy from somewhere." She always knew somebody, any place you took her, or thought she did. She kept saying that till I got bored as hell, and I said to her, "Why don't you go on over and give him a big soul kiss, if you know him? He'll enjoy it." She got sore when I said that. Finally, though, the jerk noticed her and came over and said hello. You should've seen the way they said hello. You'd have thought they hadn't seen each other in twenty years. You'd have thought they'd taken baths in the same bathtub or something when they were little kids. Old buddyroos. It was nauseating. The funny part was, they probably met each other just once, at some phony party. Finally, when they were all done slobbering around, old Sally introduced us. His name was George something--I don't even remember--and he went to Andover. Big, big deal. You should've seen him when old Sally asked him how he liked the play. He was the kind of a phony that have to give themselves room when they answer somebody's question. He stepped back, and stepped right on the lady's foot behind him. He probably broke every toe in her body. He said the play itself was no masterpiece, but that the Lunts, of course, were absolute angels. Angels. For Chrissake. Angels. That killed me. Then he and old Sally started talking about a lot of people they both knew. It was the phoniest conversation you ever heard in your life. They both kept thinking of places as fast as they could, then they'd think of somebody that lived there and mention their name. I was all set to puke when it was time to go sit down again. I really was. And then, when the next act was over, they continued their goddam boring conversation. They kept thinking of more places and more names of people that lived there. The worst part was, the jerk had one of those very phony, Ivy League voices, one of those very tired, snobby voices. He sounded just like a girl. He didn't hesitate to horn in on my date, the bastard. I even thought for a minute that he was going to get in the goddam cab with us when the show was over, because he walked about two blocks with us, but he had to meet a bunch of phonies for cocktails, he said. I could see them all sitting around in some bar, with their goddam checkered vests, criticizing shows and books and women in those tired, snobby voices. They kill me, those guys. Prompt: Pick a time period in a specific culture (American, Russian, Puerto Rican) in either the past or the future. Make a list of common words and phrases unique to this slice of life. Make another list of the culture’s characteristics. This list should include clothing fads, eating habits, types of work and education, how the people spend their time, social and political issues, where people live, etc. Combine these lists by writing a short story narrated by one or multiple characters living in the setting you chose. Try to convey the culture and its tensions through the characters’ revelations, not by explicitly stating them.